Automation as a Success Factor in Aftersales
Today the aftersales service business is already an important strategic business area for machine and plant manufacturers, accounting for an average of 30% of total sales. And this trend is growing. Automation can optimize many processes, save costs, and increase efficiency. In this article, we present five tips you can use to optimize your aftersales processes through automation.
Five tips for optimizing processes through automation
Today a company can only skim off around 25 to 30% of the global sales potential in aftersales service — the rest goes to the competition. The reasons for that include slow service processes and a low level of digitalization. In accordance with the PDCA cycle (Plan-Do-Check-Act), it’s worthwhile to regularly put existing processes and products to the test and find the points where there is potential for optimization. This principle of the continuous improvement process can also be applied to the area of aftersales. Here are five tips that machine and plant manufacturers can use to optimize their aftersales processes.
#1: Automated creation of digital spare parts catalogs and service information systems
With a digital spare parts catalog or service information system, your customers themselves can search for the spare and wear parts they need in an easy-to-use system, order them digitally, and read the associated technical documentation. This makes inquiries to your customer service or aftersales team obsolete and frees up your employees' time to focus on other issues. At the same time, your spare parts and accessories seem to sell themselves.
How can a digital spare parts catalog or service information system be created? A digital spare parts catalog or service information system brings together all the things that belong together: parts lists, 2D and 3D graphics of your components, technical documentation, and supplementary information about the individual parts. For this purpose, data is imported from source systems such as the ERP system, CAD system, PLM system or other leading systems, linked, and published from a central source in various media (online, offline, USB, print).
The entire creation and publication process can be fully automated. For you, this means you don’t need to make any manual efforts and your system will always be up to date. Here’s one example: Komptech, a special machine manufacturer with headquarters in Frohnleiten, Austria, uses a CAD system to design its machines. These 3D models are compressed and automatically converted into exploded views and single-part representations. This automatically generates 3D spare parts catalogs that offer great added value to customers and in-house employees alike. You can find more details in our project report.
Here’s one example: Komptech, a special machine manufacturer with headquarters in Frohnleiten, Austria, uses a CAD system to design its machines. These 3D models are compressed and automatically converted into exploded views and single-part representations. This automatically generates 3D spare parts catalogs that offer great added value to customers and in-house employees alike. You can find more details in our project report.
#2: Automated reordering of frequently required wear parts
Do your machines and systems have wear parts that need to be replaced regularly? If so, how about offering them a type of subscription for automated reordering on a regular basis? This will relieve your customers of the need to stock these wear parts in large quantities and will also ensure that machines don’t break down because the required wear parts will be in stock.
#3: Condition monitoring and automated triggering of processes
Another lever in the area of process optimization through automation is the automated triggering of processes by the machine or the plant itself when processes are faulty or other problems occur. For this purpose, sensors must be used to measure various parameters permanently or at regular intervals and to check them with regard to safety and efficiency. The measured data is compared with ideal data in real time so that problems can be detected immediately.
This enables the machine to automatically create a service request or order a required spare part — without the need for manual intervention. This not only ensures greater safety but also prevents financial damage due to machine downtime, for example. Condition monitoring is also an important basis for the implementation of predictive maintenance.
#4: A Self Service Portal
Your customers' expectations of excellent service are shaped by personal experience in their private lives. As a result, your customers also expect you to provide permanent availability of information, direct response to service requests, and the ability to handle routine tasks and queries independently. An optimal way to meet these expectations while digitalizing and streamlining service processes is to build a digital self-service portal as part of your digital spare parts catalog or service information system. This enables your customers to manage their data independently, view their order history, find out details about order and delivery status, download invoices, arrange service appointments, view product information and technical documentation, order additional products, and much more.
What this means for you is that your customer service and sales team no longer has to deal with these routine activities, and instead has time for more complex tasks that require support from a more specialized employee. At the same time, a standardized response to standard inquiries is ensured, resulting in consistent service quality and high-speed response.
#5: AI-based chatbots and virtual assistants for the technical hotline and customer service
Another option for process automation in the service area is the use of AI-supported chatbots or intelligent virtual assistants to supplement in-person customer service. These can bridge the waiting time until a service employee is available, answer routine inquiries, or specify the data that will be required by the service employee. The advantages of chatbots or virtual assistants are their permanent 24/7 availability, independent of service times, as well as their efficiency in terms of costs and processing speed.
With an intelligent algorithm and good training, chatbots and intelligent virtual assistants can learn more and more. But even at the beginning of its deployment, a chatbot can already provide relief if it "only" acts on the basis of a decision tree and processes textual standard queries. Frequently asked questions can be answered quickly and satisfactorily without human intervention.
Skepticism about virtual assistants or chatbots was still quite high in the past, when customers had to speak robotically and unnaturally in order to make their inquiries or repeatedly outsmart the automated systems so that they could finally speak with a real employee. However, speech technology has experienced tremendous progress in recent years. An ideal intelligent virtual assistant now understands customers' queries — regardless of their accent or way of speaking — and can answer them competently.
Conclusion: Technology and people must be an optimal match
Technology and automation in aftersales are fantastic tools for increasing customer satisfaction — but they definitely don't make the human factor obsolete. In order to be optimally equipped for the future, it is essential to bring both worlds together in the best possible way. The decisions about which technologies are suitable for an individual company will depend on various factors.
Service is the new trend in sales. Companies that have recognized this development and taken it into account have a good chance of staying ahead of their competitors and generating growth even in a competitive market.
